MERIWETHER COUNTY, Ga. — A Greenville man said he was tased and his leg was broken when he didn’t return a pen to a police officer in Meriwether County.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Channel 2′s Audrey Washington was the only reporter to speak with Corriyon Bray, 30, about what happened in December 2023.
The body camera video shows the officer hand a pen to Bray, who signed the ticket and then drove away with the officer’s pen. That’s when things escalated.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Police take multiple protesters into custody on Emory University’s campus
- Man backflips, put hole into wall trying to impress women inside Floyd Co. bar, police say
- FDA, doctors warn about compounded Ozempic. What we found at metro weight loss clinics
In the video, you can hear the officer demand Bray return his pen. Instead, Bray held the pen out of the window as he pulled away.
“That mother (expletive). He stole my (expletive) pen!” the officer shouts.
The officer, along with a Meriwether County Sheriff’s Deputy, then followed Bray to his home and demanded the pen again.
Bray insisted that he didn’t have it.
“Give it to me, or I’m going to Tase you,” the officer says on camera.
Seconds later, the officer tased Bray while the sheriff’s deputy attempted to arrest the 30-year-old.
Bray ended up with a broken leg. Police then charged him with obstruction and theft by taking.
On Thursday, Washington spoke to Bray, who showed her his injuries. His leg was broken in two places.
“It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right,” Bray said.
Greenville Police Chief Wayne Frazier said he reviewed the body cam video and saw nothing wrong with how his officer handled the situation.
“If he had complied, none of this would have happened,” Frazier said. “Our SOP says verbal, hands-on, less lethal, and lethal, and he followed protocol,” Frazier said.
Washington asked Frazier if he thought the officer should have tased him.
“Well I can’t answer that because I wasn’t there,” he said.
Washington emailed and called the Meriwether County Sheriff, who said he was out of the office and therefore unavailable to comment on his deputy’s actions that evening.
Bray said that either way, a simple traffic stop should never have ended with him injured and facing pen-theft charges.
“I think it was about trying to show authority. I think that’s what it was about,” Bray said.
Bray said he still has pain in his leg. His attorney said he plans to file a lawsuit.
©2023 Cox Media Group